Friday, March 22, 2013

As I wrote here, the recent major drop in U.S. CO2 emissions - thanks in part to cheap natural gas made available by the shale boom displacing coal as the fuel of choice for electricity generation - was likely temporary. As Jesse Jenkinswrites today for theenergycollective, gas prices are rebounding, and as a consequence, so is coal consumption. U.S. carbon emissions - and that of other harmful air pollutants - will go back up.Just as the U.S. climate gains went up in smoke on a global level as the U.S. exported cheap coal to Europe and Asia, the recent U.S. carbon gains were temporary - and illusory - when they need to be large and permanent.If the U.S. is to lower its greenhouse gas emissions, abundant shale gas is hardly enough. We'll need more than a reliance on commodity prices and short-sighted self-congratulation. We need an aggressive, comprehensive energy policy.

Today is World Water Day. So, let's talk fracking.As I've argued repeatedly, there are huge potential benefits - environmental, public health, and business - to be gained by eliminating the use of water and chemicals for fracturing shale in pursuit of natural gas.This article in MIT's Technology Review describes one alternative fracking method that uses carbon dioxide. The technique could be especially useful - if hurdles are overcome - in arid regions where gas potential is high but water availability is not - China, South Africa, and Australia, for example. Perhaps even in Texas and California, where water scarcity and competing uses are growing issues for natural gas drillers. There are other waterless technologies being developed or researched. That work, in my view, must accelerate, and find the broadest possible application in shale gas development world-wide to eliminate the use of "a fragile and finite resource" in fracking - and all of the risks (and costs) it involves.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

This is an enormously important development that has global implications for shale gas development and a sustainable energy future. The leaders of the effort, its funders, and all of the stakeholders who committed almost two years of hard work and collaboration, are to be congratulated - and emulated. Footnote: This post was quoted in this EnergyWire story.

A
UK "dash"for smart gas says
that that an assumption of low prices and large unconventional
reserves in the UK is "a risky option," and calls instead for "smart gas." That is, in the short run, the UK’s emissions can be
reduced by replacing coal-fired power stations with gas-fired power, which
emit less than half the carbon dioxide of coal-fired plants. But in the
medium to long term, the report says, reliance on gas-fired power stations
would not be consistent with the UK’s carbon targets unless it’s
accompanied by the widespread introduction of carbon capture and storage
(CCS) technology – the application of which could transform gas into a near-zero
carbon energy source. That will require that the inherent difficulties with the technology can be overcome.

The report also says that exploration and production of gas in the
UK will have to be subject to “strict environmental standards
upstream (e.g. at the wellhead to prevent fugitive emissions) and
downstream (e.g. to ensure carbon dioxide is captured and stored safely)” and “robust policies to minimise
visual impacts and maintain strict environmental, health and safety
standards in the production process.”

In
sum, natural gas will continue to be important during the transition to a
low-carbon electricity system. But if the UK is to meet carbon targets in a
least-cost way, there is only a limited window for baseload generation
from gas-fired power plants with unabated emissions, during which time it should
replace coal. Gas can only play a more significant role beyond the 2020s if CCS
technology is deployed on a commercial scale.

Future
energy policy will require a coherent portfolio approach to be successful. To
secure the investment needed in new power plants and infrastructure this
decade it is critical that clear and consistent
policy decisions about the UK’s electricity generation are made now.

TheTransportation
Energy Futures(TEF)
study includes nine
reports that identify possible paths to a low-carbon, low-petroleum future
in the U.S. transportation sector, which accounts for 71% of total U.S.
petroleum consumption and 33% of U.S. carbon emissions.

expand use of low-carbon fuels,
including biofuels, electricity, and hydrogen.

The global climate has already
irreversibly changed, and the peril
grows without aggressive action to slash carbon emissions across all sectors of the economy. The TEF study lays out part of the solution - and a challenge for our nation to shift to a
sustainable path.Will it be met?

A Green thing

The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a Green thing that stands in the way. Some see Nature all Ridicule and Deformity...and some scarce see Nature at all. But to the eyes of the Man of Imagination, Nature is Imagination itself.

William Blake, English poet (1757-1827)

About Me

John is Director of the Center for Environment, Energy, and Economy and Lecturer in Sustainability at Harrisburg University of Science and Technology. He is a former Senior Fellow and current Advisory Board member at the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania, and a consultant. He served as Secretary of the PA Department of Environmental Protection from Jan. 2015-May 2016, and as Secretary of the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources from April 2009-Jan. 2011. He is the only person in PA's history to serve as Secretary of both of the state's natural resource agencies. He also served as a two term Mayor of Hazleton, PA, and as an Alternate Federal Commissioner on the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin.
John is a graduate of Bloomsburg University with a degree in economics, and holds a Master of Public Administration degree from Lehigh University.